


World of Wonder

by Prubun (Rincanpy)



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Angst, Blood, M/M, Mention of Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-14
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-09-19 21:49:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9461705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rincanpy/pseuds/Prubun
Summary: A century ago, the vampire named Gilbert Beilschmidt locked himself away from all living things to prevent himself from hurting anyone ever again. The century passed without any disruptions, that is until one day in 2017 when a strange college student stumbled into his home.





	

When he coughed, Gilbert could have sworn that dust had blown from his mouth. His throat was dry and his lips were cracked, and the taste of ash was on his tongue. His stomach felt as if it was caving in, aching with the pain of starvation. Even for a vampire, not eating anything for a century had its effects. As he sat slouched against the stone wall, he didn't even feel the cold steel of his shackles digging into his wrists anymore; the pain had dulled years ago, but no matter how long he waited, he just wouldn't die.

/

The castle looked promising. It was big and spooky and looked like it'd been there for centuries. It was exactly the type of place that Ivan had been looking for. After driving his car up to the entrance, he got out of his little black sedan and grabbed his backpack from the back seat. He'd come to this location to hopefully find books or artwork, or just anything that had a story. He was in college and studied mostly magic and myth history. About a week ago, his professor told him about an abandoned castle that had been the home of a very powerful group of vampires, so when the weekend came, Ivan drove out as soon as he could.

The castle's walls were scorched, which was expected. Ivan's professor told him that it was a former stronghold during a massive war about 100 years ago, and that the group of vampires here were a threat. The army attacked and burned every vampire alive outside on stakes, and set the castle ablaze. It was a massacre and there were no survivors, but the castle had been abandoned since then. Locals say the place is haunted, but as Ivan walked through the overgrown grass toward the door of the main hall, all he could think about was how the vampires died here in the courtyard in flames.

Ivan opened the door to the hall. Dust and some pebbles fell down from the ceiling and landed on his head. He brushed it off and stepped in. There was a massive hole in one of the walls so sunlight was shining in to give a little bit of light to the area. Even with the light, though, a lot of areas were still dark, so Ivan pulled a small flashlight out of his bag, turned it on, and started down a hall to the right.

After a minute of walking, he came across another room. He opened the door, and took a step in, but something crunched loudly under his foot and it made him lose his balance. He tripped and fell and hit the ground hard. A rock cut his cheek, but it wasn't deep, just enough to draw a little bit of blood. When he stood up, he looked behind him at what he tripped on, and the sight made him gasp.

Bones. Human bones of at least 3 bodies were piled in a corner behind the door. His heart skipped a beat. He didn't expect it, but after the shock wore off, he realized that it was expected since a massive battle took place here. As he gazed at the skull on the ground, something began to bother him. 

"They burned all the vampires outside, right...? So... whose bones are these...?" 

The question sent a chill down his spine. No army would leave the bodies of their dead, so these people must have died after the battle. Every cell in Ivan's body was telling him to leave. Something felt wrong and ominous, but he was so curious. Something made him want to explore deeper and higher into the castle.

After he looked around for a few minutes, Ivan found a set of stone stairs leading up to what he figured was the tower of the castle.

/

'Someone's here...' Gilbert made the observation without really caring. He didn't know how to feel about it. He hadn't had a visitor in a century; and the last ones were now nothing but bones. He heard the footsteps getting closer to the door of his room. 

'They're clumsy. Don't they know that a vampire has good hearing? Or...do they even know that I'm here?' 

The person stopped outside of the door. For a moment Gilbert felt nothing, but then a certain scent filled his nose.

"Blood..." he growled out. The person was bleeding; he could smell it. Gilbert felt the desire to drink rise up in him again, and it made him angry. 100 years he'd spent locked away in the castle, but even the slightest scent of blood heightened his senses and he wanted all of it.

The door opened and a bright beam of light hit his face. He hissed loudly as the light blinded him. Ivan jolted at the noise, nearly tripping again in startlement. He thought the castle was deserted, but what he saw proved that to be wrong. On the ground against the wall in tattered dirty clothing was an extremely pale man with long white hair. He looked sickly, almost like he was dying. Ivan took one step closer.

"STAY BACK!" Gilbert yelled at him, his voice hoarse. 'This—This idiot! He's going...to die!'

Ivan froze, but shined the light around a bit. He then saw the metal chains. "Why are you chained up?" Ivan asked.

"Can't you hear!? Get out! Get out!"

Ivan, worried, went to the other man and knelt down. Gilbert tilted his head up, his mouth agape, and gasped for air. He panted heavily as his bloodlust filled his body with warmth. The scent of the man's blood was so strong that it was pushing all rationality out of his mind.

"Are you alright?" Ivan asked.

Gilbert forced out an obnoxious laugh. "Alright? Do I look alright!?" He yanked on his chains.

"Then why don't I release you? Why do you want me to leave?" Ivan was confused. He didn't understand what was wrong with this man.

Ivan stared in horror as the whites of Gilbert's eyes suddenly turned bright red and the irises turned to the color of blood.

Gilbert hung his head down, glaring up at Ivan through his long hair. "If you release me, I'll rip your throat open and drain every drop of your blood. I want to." He gave a little tug on his chains out of primal instinct, trying to get closer. "It smells so delicious."

Ivan recoiled back slowly with his heart pounding hard in his chest. 'Vampire. He's a...vampire..' The realization hit him. 'Then...those bones downstairs...'

"Who... Who chained you up?" Ivan asked another question.

Gilbert groaned and writhed as if in pain. 'I can't hold back... I'm...losing...' His vision blurred.

White ears suddenly began growing from the sides of Gilbert's head and covered his human ears, his eyes went completely black like pools of nothing, and a pair of leathery wings sprung up from his back, startling Ivan into falling backward onto his butt. Ivan watched as the wings opened and splayed. It was a monster, a literal bloodthirsty monster, and Ivan would have ran when he saw those wings and ears, but something stopped him.

Gilbert was crying. Sobbing and grunting for reasons unknown to Ivan. It made him so curious but a sense of sadness filled him as well. Even if this man was a vampire, he felt sorry for him. He was locked away, all alone, chained up. Who could have done something so horrible to him?

"I want to help you," Ivan told him. Gilbert looked up. His face was one of a nightmare — pale and hollow cheeks and light red veins visible through his skin — but Ivan didn't move. He hated seeing someone cry.

Gilbert stared at him. His mind was nearly gone, but he understood what the man said to him. Unfortunately, all he could do was snarl at him.

Ivan knew a bit about vampires. He knew that when in their state of bloodlust, they can't be reasoned with unless by force or by drinking blood to regain a bit of their humanity. Only hunters would have the tools to tame a feral vampire, so Ivan had one choice.

"If... If you have some of my blood, you'll calm down, right?" The mention of blood made Gilbert immediately look at Ivan. "I'll unchain you so you can, then I can help you." In all honesty, it didn't sound like a good plan to him, but he didn't care. He was so focused on helping the vampire in that moment that he didn't care about what would happen after.

"Yes," Gilbert groaned out. He wanted the blood. He could smell it pumping through Ivan's veins, and it was such a sweet scent.

Ivan crawled closer, feeling Gilbert's blank eyes on him the entire time. He undid one shackle and then moved to the other one. He had to mess with it a little bit to get it open, but he eventually did and let it fall to the ground.

"There, now you're fr—"

Gilbert pushed Ivan down against the wall immediately, slipped between his legs, and held his jaw with a tight grip. He leered at him, pressing his body so close that it felt almost sensual, but the look in his eyes terrified Ivan. Gilbert licked the dried blood from Ivan's cheek with a strangely pointed tongue, making him cringe. Gilbert sighed at the taste, licking his pale lips and giving Ivan a nice view of the sharp fangs that would soon be piercing into him. 

Gilbert moved his lips to Ivan's ear. " _Sweet dreams_ ," he whispered. The next thing Ivan knew was the pain of two fangs digging into his neck. 

At first, the bite brought a strange sensation of pleasure that warmed Ivan's body, but then he became colder and colder as the seconds passed. His vision started to blur, but he couldn't move even when he tried. Gilbert's arms wrapped around him possessively, taking him into a frigid embrace. Ivan felt the warm blood drip from the punctures and slide down his skin, as well as the feeling of Gilbert's tongue occasionally licking the area. Ivan's eyes became heavy, and his strength faded.

'I'm going to die...' was his last thought before darkness took him.

Gilbert felt Ivan go limp and slump against the wall but he kept drinking. Soon his rational mind seeped back in, his eyes returned to their natural pink color, and his monstrous features disappeared, and he blinked a few times before he remembered what happened. When he saw Ivan unconscious and tasted blood on his lips, he panicked. He had gone almost 100 years without tasting another person's blood. He started to shake out of fear and terror. He couldn't believe he'd killed another innocent, person and it made him tear up again.

When Gilbert regained his focus, he figured he'd at least bury the man. After all, he did try to help him, albeit foolishly. The fact made Gilbert sad when he thought about it; he repaid the first kindness he'd had in a while with death.

As Gilbert leaned down to try to pick Ivan up, his ears picked up the faint sound of a heartbeat. He put his ear to Ivan's chest and heard the soft beating.

'He's alive,' he thought with a bit of relief. Gilbert decided then that he wouldn't let this one die. As long as he didn't take anymore of his blood, he would live. It might take a few days for him to regain consciousness, but Gilbert would wait. Waiting was nothing for Gilbert; he'd waited 100 years for death, he could wait for this man to wake up.

As Gilbert helped Ivan to the bed in the room, he began to worry about how the man would react when he did wake up. He nearly killed him for trying to help him, and what was worse was that Gilbert didn't even _want_  his help. He didn't want to be set free; that's why he chained himself up to begin with.

Once Ivan was tucked into the soft bed, Gilbert sat in a nearby chair and watched him. He found himself wondering who he was. Simple things like his name, where he was from, and how old he was. It was weird to see another living thing. Gilbert had forgotten how it felt to even just touch another person, and he let himself dwell on that for a while. He didn't even realize that hours had passed while he just watched Ivan's breathing lift his chest up and down, but he found it somehow calming.

Gilbert's eyes eventually went to Ivan's neck. Just seeing the blood there made him feel a bit uneasy, but he forced himself to ignore the smell. He drank enough of the man's blood to not lose control again for a while, but it was still hard to resist when it was right in front of him.

The man was human so the punctures had to hurt. It took a moment for Gilbert to decide to do something about it, just because he feared getting too close again. In the room there was a cabinet of wrapping cloths for injuries, but that was the easy part. When Gilbert went to the bed to wrap Ivan's neck, the scent of blood wafted up into his nose. He may not have been in control before when he attacked, but he remembered every second of it. He didn't want to hurt Ivan, or anyone, ever again. 

He gently pushed the cloth to Ivan's neck, slid it under his nape, pulled it up around from the other side, and repeated the motion until it wrapped around a few times. He then pinned it shut with a small clip once he was finished.

Then he just sat there. He sat in complete silence and just watched Ivan breathe. Before he knew it, the sun outside had begun to set. Gilbert wouldn't have even noticed it if there wasn't a window in the room. The light dimmed and shone through the glass onto Gilbert's face, but from the outside, sunlight did little to bother him. After a while, the sun was gone and it was dark. It wasn't exactly strange for Gilbert to feel tired; even vampires needed sleep once in a while, especially those who were originally human. He'd never admit it out loud — certainly not to other vampires — but he loved some of the most mundane things. Eating food and sleeping were things he enjoyed a lot, but it was considered weak if vampires did those things. At this point, though, he didn't care if he was thought of as weak. His eyes felt heavy and were getting heavier with each passing second. Soon his body slumped down in the chair and he fell asleep.

The next morning he woke to the sun shining in his eyes through the window. He squinted and groaned, but soon the memory of yesterday came back to him and he sat up quickly. He looked at Ivan, who was still in the bed. His breathing was still faint, but it was a lot better than before. Gilbert wondered how long it would be until he woke up, but he figured that it didn't matter; it was just a miracle that Ivan was even breathing after how much blood Gilbert drained from him. 

There wasn't much for Gilbert to do, so he continued to watch Ivan rest. Hour after hour passed until night came another two times. It was going on three days since Ivan had fallen unconscious, but Gilbert still stayed by his side. To his surprise, he didn't think once about sinking his fangs into him again. All of his focus was on making sure that Ivan woke up, and he didn't realize that until he saw the blood staining the cloth around his neck. He noticed the sun beginning to set in the evening, and that's when he heard a slight rustle from Ivan.

Gilbert's heart skipped a beat. He shot up from his chair and backed away from the bed. Ivan's eyes slowly blinked open and he was dazed. Tilting his head down some, his eyes fell on the vampire. Gilbert was standing in the corner, holding his hands together in front of his stomach as if he was nervous. He did look nervous, like he was guilty. It confused Ivan and he had many questions, but he only asked one.

"Did you turn me into a vampire?"

Gilbert stared at him, and then shook his head.

"What did you do then?"

Gilbert glanced down to avoid looking at him. "I waited a few days for you to wake up..." he told him.

It confused Ivan even more, but before he could ask about it, he noticed that Gilbert had begun to shiver slightly and sniffle.

'He's crying again...' 

"I'm sorry," Gilbert finally spoke as he was on the verge of tears.

Ivan didn't understand. "Why did you wait for me to wake up?"

"I wanted to make sure you were okay, and...I have a request for you..." Gilbert told him. Ivan noticed how strange he was acting, but didn't question it.

"What is it? Do you want more blood?" he teased lightly. Gilbert didn't appreciate the jab but he ignored it and looked at Ivan with a lack of emotion in his eyes.

"Before you leave this castle, I want you to chain me back up and set this room on fire."

Stunned, Ivan sat up quickly, which made him feel slightly dizzy. "What?"

"When you leave, chain me up and—"

"No I heard you," Ivan interrupted him. "Why do you want me to do that?"

Gilbert was just as stunned as Ivan was. He thought that any human would jump at the chance to burn and kill a vampire, but this human seemed different. Gilbert didn't expect him to ask or care about why.

"You don't know but I chained myself up here. I was trying to starve myself to death but it takes a long time to kill vampires like that. Burning me alive is the only way to..."

Ivan took a moment to process the fact that Gilbert chained himself up. The entire idea made him so incredibly sad. "To what?" Ivan inquired.

"To keep me from hurting people again."

"I'm not going to murder you," Ivan said.

"Why not!?" Gilbert grit his teeth and struggled to hold back a few tears. "I tried to kill you! I nearly did! Don't you want me dead!?"

Ivan shook his head. "You didn't kill me though, and you put this wrap on my neck, right? I have no reason to hurt you."

"You stupid human! So you're just going to leave me here to try to starve for another hundred years!?"

Ivan grunted as he got up from the bed. He went to the vampire and stared into his eyes. Gilbert stepped backward with each step that Ivan took; he was still worried about getting too close, but Ivan didn't stop until he was a few inches away and Gilbert was backed up against the wall. 

"Come with me, then," Ivan stated sternly.

Gilbert shook his head. "No, I can't."

"Why not?"

"There are humans out there! I don't want to hurt any more of them..."

Ivan paused for a moment before taking another step closer. "There's a human in front of you right now and you're not attacking."

"That's just because I'm not hungry for blood right now."

"Did you drink my blood while I was asleep?"

Gilbert shook his head. "No."

"So you went a few days without drinking any blood?" Ivan pointed out. That fact had completely escaped Gilbert until then. Ivan's blood had tempted him a few times, but he wasn't at a point of losing control anymore.

"You'll be fine out there," Ivan told him. "It'd be good for you to see how the world has changed too."

"But what if I attack someone? Or I attack you again?"

Ivan smiled. "Then I'll let you have some of my blood to keep you from getting to that point."

Gilbert was shocked. "Why would you do that? Why do you want to help me so bad?"

Ivan's smile disappeared. "Because if I leave you here, I know you'll cry again, and I hate when people cry."

Gilbert was speechless and spent a good 30 seconds just wondering what was wrong with Ivan. No human in their right mind would ever agree to such a thing, let alone suggest it themselves. Gilbert had a feeling that Ivan wouldn't leave him alone or burn him even if he begged him to. He couldn't deny, though, that a part of him was curious of the outside world. He wondered how it had changed in the past 100 years.

Gilbert sighed. "Fine, I'll go. But you're responsible if I get all...bite-y again."

Ivan chuckled. "I can deal with that." He picked his bag up from the floor. "Well. Shall we go then?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Gilbert replied.

"I assume you don't have anything here you want to take with you?"

Gilbert shook his head. "No. I don't want to even remember this place."

"Then we'll just go. I have a car waiting outside the castle." Ivan headed for the door of the room, but noticed that Gilbert hadn't moved. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, nothing. I just...feel weird about leaving. I've lived here for a long time." In truth, he was a little frightened about leaving. He didn't care for the place anymore, but at least it was familiar.

Ivan walked back over to him. "Don't worry, there's nothing to be afraid of." Ivan held out his hand to Gilbert, hoping he'd accept it.

Gilbert stared at the hand for a moment. He was unsure if he should make any contact again, but Ivan was being so sweet that he felt like it'd be rude not to accept. Ivan watched as Gilbert awkwardly took his hand, and smiled once he took it. Gilbert's skin was, of course, much colder than his own, but it didn't bother Ivan. Gilbert thought it was strange how warm Ivan was, though, like he was just emitting heat.

As they walked out of the room, down the stairs, and toward the exit, Gilbert glanced around at the messy and semi-destroyed castle. He remembered when the place actually looked nice and wasn't filled with broken furniture and rubble, and he knew that it'd be the only good thing he would remember about the castle. However, when they reached one of the doors, Gilbert saw the skeletons of the dead men that he'd killed years ago, and he panicked.

Ivan felt Gilbert yank his hand away, and when he turned around he saw that Gilbert was covering his eyes.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"The skeletons... I..."

Ivan glanced to the skeletons, and then back to Gilbert. "I see. Here." Ivan moved to Gilbert's side and held onto his arm. "Keep your eyes covered. I'll lead you out," he said and started walking slowly so Gilbert wouldn't fall. They moved passed the skeletons and went into the next room where the light was coming in from outside, and Ivan suddenly stopped.

"How are you about the sun?"

"What?" Gilbert looked at him. "Are you trying to be funny?"

"No, I've just heard different things. How badly does it hurt you?"

"I won't die if that's what you're asking. It'll burn after a few minutes though."

"Put this on then," Ivan spoke as he took off his hoodie. "Put the hood up too."

Gilbert took the strange piece of clothing and held it up. It was big, but he'd never seen anything like it. Granted, his family of vampires always wore silk robes and gowns and capes; very "old school vampire," so he had no idea what clothing was like nowadays.

Ivan watched Gilbert put it on, although with some trouble, and in a weird way, he thought it looked cute on him. He felt a little weird for thinking it, but he couldn't help it.

"There, now the sun won't bother you as much." Ivan took Gilbert's hand again and pulled him away. Gilbert looked down at their hands connected. It felt strange, like Ivan's warmth was seeping into his own skin and making him warm as well. He was always cold, but as a vampire it never bothered him. He admitted to himself that the warmth felt much better.

Once they got out of the castle, the first blast of sunlight to hit Gilbert's face made him hiss and shield his eyes with his free hand. Ivan chuckled, but realized that it was the first time Gilbert had been out in the sun in a century. It probably felt unreal to him. It took about a minute to reach Ivan's car, which Gilbert gasped as soon as he saw.

"What?" Ivan asked him.

"This is a car?" Gilbert pressed his forehead against a window and looked inside. "They didn't look like this the last time I saw one."

'So cute...' Ivan thought as he watched Gilbert inspect the car, and then blushed when he caught himself just staring. "Well, you're in for a lot of surprises then." He opened the door to the passenger's seat and looked at Gilbert. "It's even better inside."

Gilbert blinked a few times, and then with an almost childlike excitement, he climbed into the car. The seat was made of leather and felt cold and smooth, and there were a bunch of things on the dashboard that he didn't recognize. Ivan shut the door and went around to the driver's seat.

When Ivan sat down, he noticed that Gilbert was looking at him almost expectantly. "Something wrong?"

"Show me something else!" he demanded.

Ivan blinked widely, and then smiled. "All right. Hold on." He put his key in the ignition and started the car, which caused Gilbert to make a soft _ooh_  sound in surprise. "See that button on the door there? The one toward the top?"

"Yeah?" Gilbert poked at it.

"Pull it back toward you."

Gilbert did so and the window began to roll down.

"Whoa!" Gilbert exclaimed. "That's awesome! Last time I was in one of these I had to roll it down by a stupid crank on the door."

"We still have those, but most cars now have automatic windows."

"Automatic windows. Cool," Gilbert smiled as he made the window go up and down. Ivan just watched him with amusement. It was strange to see someone so excited about something like that.

Suddenly Gilbert turned to Ivan. "What else is there? Show me something else!"

Slightly dumbfounded, Ivan froze up. "Uh...um, well, do you like music?" Gilbert nodded in response and Ivan took out his iPhone from his pocket. Gilbert was already entranced by the object from the moment he saw it, and he only got more interested when Ivan started touching the screen to unlock the phone. Ivan then held the phone toward Gilbert.

"Hold it like this," he instructed and let Gilbert hold it. "Now, see that little thing at the top with the letter 'P' on it? Touch your finger against that." Gilbert followed the instructions and tapped the icon, which opened Ivan's Pandora app. Gilbert gasped when the phone screen changed. Ivan leaned over and scrolled through his stations to find some instrumental music, and then turned the volume up.

Gilbert went wide eyed when he heard the music come from the phone. The device was even vibrating in his hand from the sound being so high. It felt so unreal to him, but he was amazed by it.

"Want to listen to it while we drive back?" Ivan asked.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Gilbert handed the phone back to Ivan.

Ivan plugged it into the car's radio and put it on the charger, and let the music fill the car. Gilbert still looked surprised and happy, and in turn it made Ivan feel happy too. Gilbert wasn't truly a bloodthirsty monster like many people thought vampires to be. Maybe there were vampires who were like that, but not Gilbert.

As Ivan backed his car up and began driving down the dirt path, Gilbert glanced over to him. He felt very indebted to this human, and for the first time in a long time, he felt happy.

"Hey, by the way..." Gilbert started. "My name is Gilbert Beilschmidt."

Ivan shifted his eyes to him for a split second and then looked back to the path. "Right, we were never formally introduced. I am Ivan Braginsky. It's nice to meet you, Gilbert."

Gilbert hesitated and then smiled. "Yeah, you too."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading.


End file.
